Recently, the Australian Parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill as part of the Online Safety Act of 2021 amendment. Starting in late 2025, the bill will prevent teenagers under 16 from using social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X. The bill plans to apply enormous fines to tech companies that don’t take measures to prevent minors from creating social media accounts. Despite its intentions of protecting minors’ mental health, the ban has sparked debate over digital censorship and privacy – raising notable concerns related to identity verification, digital access, and freedom of expression. One frequently cited concern is that… Read more
OTW Guest Post: Maya Wei Yan Linsley
Every month, the OTW hosts guest posts on our OTW News accounts to share outside perspectives on the OTW or aspects of fandom. These posts reflect the personal views of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the OTW. Maya Wei Yan Linsley (she/any) is an English MA student at the University of Victoria, BC. She is interested in fandom, archives, popular media, and the discount produce section at her local market. Today, Maya talks about her journey from being a fanfiction enthusiast to becoming a fan studies researcher, sharing the joys and challenges of exploring the intersections of fandom… Read more
AO3 Releases 0.9.379 – 0.9.382: Change Log
In October and November we prepared for and then deployed the updated Terms of Service. We also included a variety of smaller improvements from as many contributors as we could. Special thanks and welcome to our first-time contributors Amy Lee, anechol, Dev21Maker, lydia-theda, MarleaM, minionluvr, Mugdha Gupta, mystyrust, nil-cipher (Wanda), Paola Solari, phthallo [Annabel Quach], and slavalamp! Credits Coders: Amy Lee, anechol, Bilka, Brian Austin, Cesium-Ice, Dev21Maker, lydia-theda, MarleaM, Mugdha Gupta, minionluvr, mystyrust, nil-cipher (Wanda), Paola Solari, phthallo [Annabel Quach], Sarken, slavalamp Code reviewers: Bilka, Brian Austin, james_, lydia-theda, Sarken Testers: Bilka, Brian Austin, calamario, Deniz, Flerken, lydia-theda, Sarken, Taki, Teyris, therealmorticia, wichard Details 0.9.379 On October 5,… Read more
November 2024 Newsletter, Volume 195
I. UPDATES TO AO3 TERMS OF SERVICE Board has voted to approve the new AO3 Terms of Service (TOS), which is now live. The 2-week feedback period prior to the vote received several thousand comments, and Policy & Abuse (PAC) worked with Communications’ News Post Moderation subcommittee to respond to more than 400 of them. The overall reaction was positive, and everyone involved is excited by the number of users who agreed this is an improvement to the TOS. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback! Accessibility, Design & Technology (AD&T) and PAC worked hard throughout October and November to roll out the new page… Read more
The Slash Advent Calendar is Moving to the AO3
The Slash Advent Calendar, a multifandom archive for fanfiction and fanart, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3). In this post: A bit of background explanation What this means for creators who had work(s) on the Slash Advent Calendar And what to do if you still have questions Background explanation The Slash Advent Calendar was a multifandom slash challenge that ran every December from 2002 to 2005. Founded by kira-nerys at Lady Kardasi Productions, it included works from fandoms such as Star Trek, Harry Potter, The Sentinel, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unfortunately, in 2010, the domain name hosting the Slash Advent… Read more